Thursday, July 28, 2011

Another Stupid Article About Why We're All So Fat. . .

A friend sent me this article by Zinczenko & Goulding on the habits that make people fat.  Kinda like it.  Kinda hate it.  Mostly hate it.

Habits 1-4 are pretty standard.  Nothing too controversial.  Get enough sleep, don't eat the free chips at Mexican restaurants. 

I was excited to see that habit  # 5 - Drinking pop -- even diet pop -- is a fat-producing habit.  O.M.G.  This is so me I can't even believe it.  I have said this for ages.   I drink WAY too much pop.  I drink pop like my mom smokes cigarettes.  It's definitely a bad habit!

Habits 6,7,8. . .yada yada yada.

But then we get to habit 9 - Ordering Combo Meals.  This is the Happy Meal Debate all over again.  Ordering combo meals does not make you fat.  Eating combo meals makes you fat.  There is a difference.

Habit 10 - Facing the buffet.  Sigh.  Look -- I know that most buffets are filled with fat people.   But most fat people DO NOT GO TO BUFFETS.  Seriously.  We don't. You are beginning to piss me off.

Habits 11-15.  Nothing notable.

Then we get to Habit 16.

Having fat friends makes you fat.  

Wait -- WHAT?

So. . . my friend is fat because I am fat?  Or I am fat because she is fat?  What if she was fat when I met her?  Is it our other friend's fault?  WHAT?

Zinczenko & Goulding suggest "Rather than ditch a friend who starts to put on a few extra pounds though, suggest healthy activities that you can do together, and avoid letting him or her dictate the meal (“Let’s split the cheesecake!”) 

Nothing says "I'm your friend!" like judging someones eating.

What, exactly is "dictating the meal"?  "Hmmmmm. . .gee Michelle, I know you wanted the Buddha's Feast, but get the Kung Pao Chicken instead, OK?  I'll be your best friend!"

I notice that in order to give credence to this premise, they quote research in the New England Journal of Medicine.  PrestigiousI went to the New England Journal of Medicine to read the research for myself. 

I found a synopsis of an article that I think they're using as data.  The NEJoM synopsis does not list friends as a contributing factor, but the full text might.  The full text of the article costs $15.  I didn't buy it since $15 is roughly the cost of 12 Coke Zeros (which are keeping me fat, damn them!).  If Zinczenko & Goulding used a different piece to justify their claim, I hope they will let me know.

I took stats last semester.  Zinczenko & Goulding claim that having fat friends "ups your chance of obesity by 57 percent."   If you look at the data in the NEJoM article, however, "other lifestyle factors associated with weight gain" are P<0.001.  That is a very very small number.  So my question is, 57% of what? 

Could Zinczenko & Goulding be using the NEJoM's prestigious data to shock, amaze or enrage their readers?  Look, I get it.  You sell diet books and you want to sell more of them.  By hurting and insulting fat people with your prestigious "research", you might be able to sell a few more. 

Yawn.

4 comments:

  1. They obviously don't know that if we hang out with our fat friends we look thinner.

    Seriously, my sister was just analyzing why we're fat tonight. She says our mom overfed us. I called "bullshit" because I don't ever remember mom forcing me to overeat. I don't know why I'm fat and I don't really want to analyze it. Just call my life unexamined.

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  2. Mary, I love this post!

    I'm not sure you and I are exactly on the same page regarding Happy Meals or restaurant responsibility in general (why should any one meal be 1500 calories?!?!), though I totally respect your opinion and see where you are coming from...

    But when it comes to the claim that "having fat friends makes you fat" and everything these guys say about it, I am SO with you.

    First of all, it's bad science. At best they have found a correlation--fat people tend to have fat friends. (Well, HELLO, who wants to hang out with Kate "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" Moss?) To claim causation is irresponsible and sloppy.

    But what I really love is their patronizing, self-aggrandizing attitude--"rather than ditch a friend who starts to put on a few extra pounds..."

    Really? Yeah, because based on your say-so, I was just about to "ditch" my friends. Good thing you told me I don't have to! Instead, I'll just be an asshole and make them go running with me (ha!) instead of watch movies and eating popcorn together, which we've always loved doing.

    What jerks.

    Oh, and P.S. I don't even let my best friend or my fiance share my cheesecake. If they want some, they'd damn well better order their own.

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  3. Hmmmm.
    I drink a gazillion and one Diet Mt. Dews a week. No wonder I'm a lard-ass.

    And if befriending fatties makes one fat, then what happens when the fat friends have gastric bypass and get all skinny, making YOU the fat friend?

    I'm confused.

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  4. "I took stats last semester.  Zinczenko & Goulding claim that having fat friends "ups your chance of obesity by 57 percent."   If you look at the data in the NEJoM article, however, "other lifestyle factors associated with weight gain" are P<0.001.  That is a very very small number.  So my question is, 57% of what?"

    You failed that class, correct. Not knowing how p values work should definitely preclude you from passing any statistics class.

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